|
WSP Group is one of the largest international consultancy groups in the UK, and operates specialists in almost every sector. As such their chief executive, Chris Cole, is well placed to reflect on where the industry is heading.
Market conditions
“This is a huge question and one that is somewhat coloured at the moment by the unprecedentedly difficult trading conditions in the UK”, explained Chris Cole.
“The industry has to change, become leaner, accept different working practices like off-shoring, embed sustainability into everything it does without adding material cost and certainly not unless there is value evidently derived.
“The good news is recessions do come to an end and the companies that have best adapted to change are the ones who progress more strongly.
“The industry has to think of itself more as a partner helping clients to provide solutions to their problems, rather than an appointed provider of services already defined.”
Improving the industry
As the industry continues to respond to the downturn, Chris Cole sets out changes he expects to see.
He suggested: “The industry needs to be more collaborative, leaner, avoid so much duplication, and either reduce or be more pragmatic towards legislation and regulation.
“Whilst embedding modern design techniques like Building Information Modelling (BIM) and sustainability, we still have to find the route map to delivering the built environment at lower or certain costs.”
Prospects for growth
Chris Cole is clear that there is scope for growth in the years ahead.
“The key growth sectors are well known to all of us. They range from transportation and infrastructure to utilities, energy and climate change influences. All these issues support the proven future need for enlarged, refined and new cities and towns across the world.”
New technology
With a range of new technologies coming on stream, Chris Cole can see a range of implications for engineers.
“The technologies that will probably have the greatest impact on our industry in the short to medium term are all forms of BIM, ever-improving modelling both for visual and design advantages”, he suggests.
“In addition off-shoring, together with those design techniques, will become more prevalent along with various forms of knowledge management to connect global companies that are easier to use than their predecessors, including even developed forms of Twitter.”
ACE’s future role
As a recently elected vice chairman of ACE, Chris Cole is clear about the business association’s future role.
“I feel privileged to have been asked to play a part in ACE, notwithstanding my other acknowledged business commitments. My ambition in this role is to support Nelson and the Board.
“ACE should be seen as a champion on lobbying and influencing areas of key importance to the industry”, he said. “Initially it should be the centre of current thinking and sentiment and, from that platform, provide the influence and voice.”
Prospects abroad
As chief executive of an international firm, how does Chris Cole view the present global climate?
“The international situation in the wider Middle East region is fragile. That equally reflects upon the world today both politically and economically. Also, the problem is that the UK is quite harnessed to the region”, he explained.
“I don’t suppose China, South America, South East Asia or Australia feel similarly affected. WSP has suffered in the economic downturn of Dubai and the ongoing legacy issues, and similarly our Sweden operations have had to repatriate a few people from Libya.”
Pride in projects
As one of the most experienced engineers in the industry, what projects have given Chris Cole greatest satisfaction?
“I have a sense of pride on the delivery of Europe’s largest shopping centre at the time, the Bullring in Birmingham which was the last major project I can genuinely say I was intimately involved with. More recently the Shard of Glass in London and Freedom Tower in New York clearly shine through as great beacons of achievement and it gives me great pride to be involved with them.”
Looking back he commented: “Every time I walk across the Hungerford Bridge, I feel a sense of pride both with the design and the fact that this and the Millennium Bridge are the only pedestrian bridges constructed across the Thames for over 100 years.”
And returning to the present, Chris Cole added: “When travelling through Stockholm and seeing the 20km of tunnelling being driven through the rock of the city on our City Line project, I feel good.”
WSP icons for the future
World Trade Center, New York
WSP are structural engineers in One WTC, Two WTC, Three WTC, the Memorial and the Performing Arts Center. WSP were also the structural engineers for the now completed award winning Seven World Trade Center.
BBI Airport, Berlin
Berlin Brandenburg International Airport is Europe’s biggest airport construction site – and we are managing the project.
Berlin’s Schoenefeld Airport is being expanded to become Berlin Brandenburg International (BBI), the new airport for the German Capital. It is an enormous site, covering 1,470 hectares, the equivalent to 2,000 football pitches. Two parallel runways 1,900 metres apart will be operated separately to enable as many as 6,500 passengers to take off or land during a typical peak business hour. Between the runways the six-storey U-shaped midfield terminal will initially handle up to 27 million passengers a year, with the possibility for future expansion to up to 45 million passengers. Directly below the terminal, a new six-track railway station with three platforms for local and inter-city trains will connect the airport with Berlin city centre and the surrounding region.
The City Line, Stockholm
The City Line is Stockholm’s largest construction project involving the boring of a six km rail tunnel under central Stockholm to relieve rail traffic in the city centre and increase capacity.
WSP Sweden has been working on the project since 2007, with around 100 people involved in designing the largest and most complex part of the project, which includes 2 kilometres of rock tunnel and the redevelopment of Stockholm’s main rail hub. It is anticipated that the project will take nine years to complete and design is still in the first phase.
Transbay Transit Terminal and Tower, California
Envisioned as the Grand Central Station of the West Coast, the new transit center will become a major transportation hub when it is completed in the next half decade. Details of the new Transbay Transit Center and Tower include centralization of the Bay Area’s regional transportation network by accommodating multiple transportation systems under one roof, including a proposed future California High-Speed Rail terminus.
The Shard, London
The Shard, which is now ascending rapidly over at London Bridge, will be the tallest building in western Europe, its crystalline façade transforming the London skyline with a mixed-use 310m (1,016ft) vertical city of high-quality offices, restaurants, the 5-star Shangri-La hotel, exclusive residential apartments and the capital’s highest viewing gallery offering 360° views.
 Download article.
|